Beet harvester



Feb. 27, 1951 o. KROLL 2,543,529

BEET HARVESTER Filed Dec. 2, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR A Osca 2'JCrol L ATTORNEYS 0. KROLL BEET HARVESTER Feb. 27, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Dec. 2, 1947 INVENTOR OscarXroZZ Feb. 27, 1951 o. KROLL 2,543,529

BEET HARVESTER Filed Dec. 2, 1947 4 SheetsSheet 5 15 INVENTOR 0s carxrolZ BY 141, mui/ ATTORNEYS Feb. 27, 1951 KROLL 2,543,529

' BEET HARVESTER Filed Dec. 2,1947 {Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR OscarjroilMi mi/ ATTORNEYS ?atented Feb. 27, 1951 UNi'lED STATES PATENT ()FFICE 2Claims.

This invention has for an object the provision of a novel,power-actuated harvester for sugar beets or the like.

Another object of the invention is to provide a beet harvester which isoperative, upon advance along a beet row and in sequence, to cut anddeflect laterally weeds or vines along the row which may be entangledwith the beet tops; to then automatically top the beets and windrow thecut tops to one side of the row; to thereafter loosen the beets in theground and elevate them therefrom; and to finally free the beets fromdirt etc. and discharge them from the harvester into an adiacentreceiving vehicle such as a truck traveling alongside said harvester.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a beet harvesterwhich includes a novel topping unit.

A further object of the invention is to provide a beet harvester whichincludes a novel beet digging and elevating unit.

It is also an object to provide a beet harvester wherein the beettopping unit, and beet digging and elevating unit, are verticallyadjustable between a lowered working position and a raised transportposition; said units being coupled in novel manner for simultaneous ad'ustment.

A furtherobject of the invention is to provide a practical, efficient,and reliable beet harvester, and yet one which will be exceedinglyeffective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects are accomplished by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevation of the harvester as in use; both the toppingunit and digging and elevating unit being shown in lowered workingposition.

Fig. 2 is a similar view, but shows said units in raised transportposition.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of the digging and elevatingunit.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional plan on line d-l of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a cross section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1, showing the workingparts of the topping unit.

Fig. 6 is a cross section on line 56 of Fig. 5.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the harvester comprises an elongated main frame, indicatedgenerally at I, such frame including an upstanding skeleton structurewhich has transversely spaced bottom side beams 2 and similarly spacedtop side beams 3, together with other suitable frame beams and braces,as illustrated. The main frame is wheel-supported for movement along theground, the rear wheels being indicated at 4, while the front wheels areindicated at 5. The front wheels 5 are arranged in connection with asteerable mount or truck 6 from which a draft tongue 7 projectsforwardly for connection to a tractor.

The main frame I supports a beet digging and elevating unit, indicatedgenerally at 5, and-in advance thereof-a beet topping unit, indicatedgenerally at 9.

The beet digging and elevating unit 8 will first be described, andcomprises:

Mounted centrally between the rear wheels 4, and disposed when inworking position at a forward and upward incline, is a beet digging andelevating conveyor, indicated generally at [0, such conveyor turning inthe direction of the arrow indicated in Fig. 3 and being swingablysupported, at its upper end, by means of a top cross shaft II; the lowercross shaft of said conveyor It being indicated at l2. The beet diggingand elevating conveyor It includes a pair of transversely spaced endlesschain and sprocket units 13 having cross pins Hi connectin the same atevenly spaced points. Each cross pin 14 is provided with an outwardlyprojecting pair of tines l5 in transversely spaced relation, with theouter ends of said tines being flared laterally outward. Each pair ofoutwardly projecting tines 15 forms in effect a fork, and said tines aredisposed on the cross pins [4, which are non-rotatable, at such anglethat when in the upwardly moving runof the conveyor IE3 when in workingposition, said forks are substantially horizontal.

The beet digging and elevating conveyor It includes a rigid conveyorframe it which, as previously indicated, is adjustable about the topcross shaft i l as an axis; such conveyor frame I6 being rigidly fixedin connection with, and disposed between, a pair of transversely spaceddiscs I! journaled on said top cross shaft II. The trailing edge of thediscs ll are formed as gear segments IS, with which pinions I 9 mesh;said pinions being fixed on a cross shaft 20 which is selectively andreversibly rotatable from one end by a worm gear box 2i adapted to beoperated by means of a shaft 22. The shaft 22 may be run by a crank, orfrom the power mechanism of the implement, as desired.

It will be seen that upon rotation of the cross shaft 2!] and pinions19, the discs I'i will turn about the top cross shaft H to swing theconveyor I from its working position, as in Fig. 1, rearwardly andupwardly to a transport position, as in Fig. 2.

The top cross shaft H is the drive shaft for the conveyor [0, and saidshaft is driven in the following manner:

An engine (not shown) is mounted atop the main frame I at the rear in anengine housing 23, and the engine shaft 24 projects laterally from saidhousing on one side. Ahead of the engine housing 23, the main frame I isfitted, at the top, with a transverse counter-shaft 25, there being anendless speed-reducing drive 26 between the engine shaft 24 and thecountershaft 25. The endless drive 26 is disposed within a protectiveshield 21. The counter-shaft 25 carries a relatively small gear,indicated diagrammatically at 28, while the top cross shaft ll carries arelatively large gear, indicated diagrammatically at 29, in mesh withsaid gear 28; the large gear 29 lying to the outside of one of the discsl'i. With the above arrangement an efiective drive is imparted to thebeet digging and lifting conveyor l0 without restricting swinging oradjusting motion of the latter between its lowered working position andraised transport position.

At the normally bottom part thereof the discs I"! are formed withdownwardly projecting, transversely spaced skirts 30, between which theforward and upwardly traveling run of the conveyor 10 passes when theharvester is in operation.

The conveyor frame I6 includes upper and lower pairs of transverselyspaced, forwardly projecting arms 3| longitudinally slotted at theirfree ends, as at 32, and corresponding cross rods 33 extend between saidpairs and ride in the slots. The cross rods 33 are normally urged towardthe conveyor ID by connected tension springs 34. A plurality oftransversely spaced, generally C-shaped presser fingers 35 connect thecross rods 33 in forwardly opening relation, i. e. project toward theconveyor and being so disposed that the tines l will pass therebetweenin adjacent but clearance relation.

Mainly below the above described presser unit, the harvester includesthe following plow assembly:

A pair of transversely spaced push beams 36 project forwardly from thejournals of the lower cross shaft [2 on opposite sides of the conveyor,and connect with push beams 37 which depend from the upper end of saidconveyor It At the front thereof the push beams 35 carry a forwardlyopening, generally U-shaped plow 38, the lead edges of which arepreferably sharpened. The plow 38 is suitably braced from, andvertically adjustable relative to, the push beams 36, and carriesrearwardly and inwardly converging deflectors 39 which tend tostraighten up laterally tilted beets passing therebetween.

With advance of the harvester in straddling relation along a beet rowthe beet topping unit 9, whose structure and functions will hereinafterbe described in detail, tops the beets, and thence the beets in the roware dug and elevated by the above described beet digging and elevatingunit 8, as follows:

As the harvester travel along the row, the U-shaped plow 38 cuts below,and to the sides of, the beets in the row, loosening the dirt about saidbeets. The conveyor H) is set so that the tines l5 dig relatively deeplyinto the ground, and the speed of the conveyor I0 relative to the speedof forward advance of the harvester is such that the forks formed bysaid tines i5 sweep through the ground and engage a beet in generallystraddling relation, and from the back side. Thereafter, as each forkbegins its upward travel in the forward run of the conveyor ID, theengaged beet as straddled by the fork is swept out of the ground andcarried upwardly, soon being engaged by the assembly of the presserfingers 35 to prevent accidental escape of such beet from the fork.

As it approaches the upper end of the conveyor 40, each beet is detachedfrom the engaged fork, i. e. swept away from the tines 15, by a stripperbar 40 mounted to pass between each pair of tines. This stripper baracts to sweep each beet from the corresponding fork after the latter hastraveled to a point slightly above a transverse platform 4| carriedbetween the discs !'I normally at the front thereof, and the platformthen registers with a grate 42 ahead thereof.

Beets as stripped from the forks fall onto the platform 4| and grate 42;the latter permitting dirt etc,, which falls from the beets, to escape.

The harvester includes side plates 43 mounted on the main frame I,forming in effect the sides of a hopper 44, a part of the bottom ofwhich is comprised of the platform 4| and grate 42. At their rear edgesthe side plates 43 are generally symmetrical to, and closely lap, thediscs H. The front portion of the hopper 44 is an elevator conveyor,indicated generally at 45, which extends from it lower end adjacent thegrate 42 at an upward and forward incline.

The elevator conveyor 45 includes a top cross shaft 46, a bottom crossshaft 41, an endless draper 48, and transverse rows of outwardlyprojecting conveyor elements 49 whose spacing and positioning is suchthat each row of said elements passes through the grate 42, which grateis openended for this purpose.

As the beets are stripped from the forks of the conveyor l0, and fallinto the hopper 44 on the grate 42, they are engaged by the top run ofthe elevator conveyor 45.

At the top thereof said elevator conveyor 45, which runs betweenextensions 50 of the side plates 43, discharges forwardly over adeflector grill 5| into a shaker box 52 on the top front part of themain frame I such shaker box including a perforate bottom 53 to permitof the escape of dirt from the beets as shaken in said box. The shakerbox 52 is power actuated in any suitable manner.

From the shaker box 52 the beets are picked up and conveyed at a lateraland upward incline by a similarly disposed elevator conveyor 54. Thelatter is of a length such that it may discharge into the body of atruck traveling alongside the harvester.

a shaft 512 and; are connected together as av rigid frame; At theirlower ends the standards 58 each includea coulter. P9 trailed by anoutwardly flaring: deflector. blade fill; the coulters, together withtrailing blades, running" on opposite sides of. the beet row to cutentangled vines etc. from the cut material and to deflect such cutmaterial laterally of the row so that it does not interfere with. thesubsequent topping operation.

The connected together standards 58 are each linked by a longitudinaltie rod 60 with the beet digging and elevating unit; such rods 60 beingattached, at their rear ends, to the suspension beams 31', as shown.

A pair of transversely spaced legs 61 are journaled' at their upper endson the top cross shaft 5'! and depend to a point normally adjacent butclear of the ground, and at their lower ends said legs carry a bottomcross shaft 62; said bottom cross shaft 62 being driven from the topcross shaft 5"! by an endless chain and sprocket unit 63;, said topshaft 5'! being driven from the cross shaft 51 by an endless drive M.

A generallyrectangular, upstanding, and transversely extending carrierframe, indicated generally at 65, is disposed somewhat to the rear ofthe legs 5!, and includes side posts 156, a bottom beam (i'l,andadj'acent the upper portion thereof --vertically spaced pairs offront and rear cross beams 68; all connected together in a rigidstructure;

Adjacent their lower ends the side posts 66 include forwardly projectingears 59 which are pivotally connected to the bottom cross shaft 62.Adjacent their upper ends the side posts 66 are fitted, on the outside,with rollers which run is rearwardly and upwardly curving cam slots H inside plates 12 on the main frame.

Stop blocks 13, projecting from the standards 58, are normally engagedby the front edge of the legs '6 l. Thus when the beet digging andelevating conveyor It! is swung rearwardly and upwardly, the tie rods 60will pull the standards 5% through a similar path, raising the coulters59 and deflector blades 60 clear of the ground to a transport position.Similarly, the blocks 13, abutting against the legs 6!, swing themrearwardly and upwardly, together with the carrier frame 65. However, byreason of the particular mounting arrangement, including the rollers 10running in the cam slots H, said carrier frame 55 tends to remainsubstantially dependent at all times.

At the lower end of the carrier frame 65. the bottom beam 57 is fixedwith the forward end of an upwardly and rearwardly inclined longitudinalgrate l4, and Working on top of said longitudinal grate M is a bottomfeed endless conveyor l5 pivotally mounted on and driven from the bottomcross shaft 62.

The rear end portion of the longitudinal grate M slidably rests on across rod at the front of a horizontal lateral conveyor 11 disposedbeneath the main frame between the units 8 and 9, and suspended from thetie rods 6!) by hangars 18. With this arrangement the grate I l andconveyor l5 always deliver to the lateral conveyor 11, regardless of theposition of vertical adjustment of the beet topping unit 9. See Figs. 1and 2. The lateral conveyor ll is driven by a universal and extensibledrive assembly, indicated generally at 19. I

The beet topping unit 9 includes, in combination with the abovedescribed arrangement, a sickle which comprises:

Within the carrier frame 65, and between the front and rearmost ones ofthe cross beams 68, in laterally reciprocable relation, there is arectangular, upstanding shuttle frame carrying, at its lower end,directly ahead of the bottom beam Bl, a. sickle blade 8!; such sickleblade being disposed directly beneath the forward end portion of thebottom feed conveyor 15 and directly ahead of the lower end of thelongitudinal grate l4.

With advance of the implement, the sickle blade 8 I, which isreciprocated transversely in the manner hereinafter described, tops thebeets in the row being traversed, the cut off beet tops then being fedby the bottom feed conveyor 15 rearwardly up the longitudinal grate Mand discharged onto the lateral conveyor ll, which conveyor feeds thecut beet tops to a point laterally of the machine and there windrowsthem.

The rectangular shuttle frame 8!) includes, at its upper end, atransversely recip-rocable bar 32 which is journaled in transverselyspaced upstanding bearings 33 on the upper end of a rectangular floatingframe 8d. The frame 84 is capable of limited vertical floating toprevent of breakage of the sickle bar 8!, in the event of undue upwardpressure thereon. The floating frame 84 is carried in guides 85 betweenthe front and rear ones of the cross beams 18; there being a stop block86 to restrict downward vertical motion of the floating frame 84 beyonda predetermined point.

A crank 8'! is rotatably mounted on a bracket 88 on one end of thefloating frame 84, and a connecting rod 89 extends between the crank 81and an attachment block 96 on the transversely recipr-ocable bar 82. Thecrank 81 is fitted with a pitman drive shaft 9!, which is actuated by auniversal and extensible drive assembly, indicated generally at 92. Thisuniversal and extensible drive assembly 92 is arranged so that the beettopping unit 9 may be freely adiusted between its lowered workingposition and raised transport position without interference by saidassembly; the latter including a gear 93 on the top cross shaft 51running in mesh with a relatively smaller gear of the assembly 92.

When the above described harvester is in use, the beet digging and eevating unit 8 is lowered into its working position, which automaticallyeffects lowerin of the beet topping unit 9 to a simi ar position, byreason of the inter-connection of such units by the tie links 50.Thereafter, as the implement advances along the ground the beets aretopped by the unit 9 and the tops windrowed, and thence the beets areloosened, dug, and elevated by the unit 8, finally being dischargedlaterally of the harvester at an elevated point into a truck.

This invention provides an efficient machine for the automatic or powerharvesting of sugar beets or the like; such machine being reliable inits structure, while not unduly complicated for ready maintenance etc.

From the forgoing description it will be readily seen that there hasbeen produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, the following is claimed as new anduseful, and upon which Letters Patent are desired:

1. A beet harvester comprising a frame sup ported for movement along theground, a power actuated beet digging and elevating unit pivotallymounted on the frame for rearward swinging adjustment between a loweredworking position and a raised transport position, a leading, poweractuated beet topping unit pivotally mounted on the frame for rearwardswinging adjustment between a lowered working position and a raisedtransport position, transversely spaced tie rods pivotally connectingsaid units for simultaneous adjustment between said positions, means toefiect such adjustment, a lateral conveyor suspended from the tie rods,and means to feed beet tops from the topping unit to the lateralconveyor.

2. A beet harvester comprising a frame supported for movement along theground, a power actuated beet diggin and elevatin unit pivotally mountedon the frame for rearward swinging adjustment between a lowered workingposition and a raised transport position, a leading, power actuated beettopping unit pivotally mounted on the frame for rearward swingingadjustment between a lowered working position and a raised transportposition, transversey spaced tie rods pivotally connecting said unitsfor simultaneous adjustment between said positions, means to effect suchadjustment, a lateral conveyor sus- 3 pended from the tie rods, arearwardly extending, longitudinal grate secured to the topping unit andslidably seatin on the lateral conveyor, and a bottom feed conveyorworking in cooperation with the grate from above.

OSCAR KROLL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 659,773 Tucker Oct. 16, 1900814,747 Sullivan Mar. 13, 1906 919,342 Gettlemann Apr. 27, 1909 987,202Wichertjes Mar. 21, 1911 1,282,205 Fanger Oct. 22, 1918 1,283,810 KukyNov. 5, 1918 1,288,541 Fant Dec. 24, 1918 1,498,914 Hofiman June 24,1924 1,748,746 Zuckerman Feb. 25, 1930 2,430,665 Briggs Nov. 11, 1947FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 11,415 Austria Apr. 10, 1903 15,050Great Britain Dec. 2, 1909 20,002 Denmark Mar. 22, 1915 71,902 AustriaJune 10, 1916

